GEORGIA LEGISLATORS FAIL TO ACT ON
WITNESS IDENTIFICATION ACCURACY MEASURE
ATLANTA -March 12, 2008
The Rules Committee of the Georgia House of Representatives failed to take a vote on House Bill 997, the Witness Identification Accuracy Act, despite unanimous recommendation of the measure more than a month before the deadline. The failure to act before Georgia's legislative "cross-over day" deadline kills the bill for this year.
"What the lawmakers are telling us is that it's just fine with them that more than 80% of our police agencies have no written policy on collecting eyewitness evidence," said the Georgia Innocence Project's Aimee Maxwell. "It may be fine with them, but it's not fine with us, and I'm willing to bet it's not fine with the seven Georgia men who were wrongly convicted because of mistaken eyewitness identification."
The Act, which the House Judiciary Committee unanimously approved in early February, would have required Georgia law enforcement agencies that conduct line-ups to develop written policies on collecting eyewitness evidence and train officers on those policies. An accompanying resolution that also failed to make it out of committee offered best practices on eyewitness evidence collection but did not mandate any particular set of guidelines.
"It was a no-cost solution that could have helped prevent wrongful conviction. And State Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield worked very hard to make sure that everyone -- police and prosecutors -- agreed on the measure," said Maxwell. "If police don't have policies on making IDs, prosecutors are going to face more and more challenges on those IDs in the courtroom. It's a bill that would have benefitted everyone in the justice system."
GEORGIA HOUSE COMMITTEE
GIVES GREEN LIGHT TO EYEWITNESS I.D. MEASURES
ATLANTA - February 6, 2008
The Georgia House Judiciary Committee has unanimously approved the Witness Identification Accuracy Enhancement Act (House Bill 997). In a vote of 10 to 5, the Committee also approved a House Resolution that establishes best practices for law enforcement agencies collecting eyewitness evidence. Both measures now go to the House Rules Committee for its recommendation.
The Act mandates that the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council (POST) establish guidelines and procedures for conducting showups, photographic lineups, and physical lineups. It also calls on the Georgia Public Safety Training Center to develop a comprehensive training program on the procedure and for all Georgia law enforcement agencies that conduct line-ups to develop written policies on collecting eyewitness evidence by January 1, 2009.
The bill is based on work last year by a House Study Committee on Eyewitness Identification, chaired by Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield (D-Decatur). The Committee learned, from a results of a study done by the Georgia Innocence Project (GIP), that more than 80% of Georgia law enforcement agencies currently have no written policy on collecting eyewitness evidence.
Mistaken identification was a leading factor in the wrongful conviction of seven Georgia men who have since been proven innocent by DNA testing. Georgia's most recent DNA exoneree, John Jerome White, spoke to the Study Committee in December, just days after his release from prison. He told legislators that he hoped some action would be taken.
To view GIP's report on its study of Georgia law enforcement agency practices on collecting eyewitness evidence, click here.
To find out what the eyewitness evidence collection policies are in your area, click here to view GIP's data.
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